Australia coach Andrew McDonald has revealed the extreme risk selectors took with captain Pat Cummins, who starred in the third Ashes Test in Adelaide on his return to the side, but has now been ruled out for the rest of the series.
McDonald and the other selectors named a 15-player squad on Tuesday for the Boxing Day Test, which includes pace trio Jhye Richardson, Brendan Doggett and second Test hero Michael Neser, as well as Victorian off-spinner Todd Murphy as a replacement for the injured Nathan Lyon.
The coach said although Cummins “pulled up fine” in his first match since July following a serious back injury, it was not worth exposing him to possible injury again given the series has now been won.
“We were taking on some risk [with his return] but we’ve now won the series and that was the goal,” the coach said. “To position him for further risk and jeopardise him long term is not something that we want to do, and Pat’s really comfortable with that.”
Cummins was imperious in Adelaide, taking three wickets in both innings, despite appearing to battle pain. McDonald said his return went to plan.
“If he had any setback in the build-in as well, we would have shut him down straight away. Everything went really smoothly and full credit to him, the medical team, and to navigate through that risk profile and get him back and take six wickets in that game and nail the Ashes series was incredibly pleasing for everyone.”
Lyon was less fortunate, and suffered a hamstring injury late in the match diving for a ball fielding on the boundary. He went in for surgery on Tuesday morning and faces months on the sidelines.
“He’s pretty shattered,” McDonald said. “He’s facing a long recovery. Recovery time frames I’ll leave up that up to the medical team, all I know is it could be pretty longish.”
Lyon had been left out of the second Test XI in Brisbane but returned in Adelaide and took five crucial wickets – including the second-innings dismissals of Zak Crawley, Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – to remind selectors of his value.
Nathan Lyon on crutches after Australia won the third and the Ashes series. Photograph: Philip Brown/Getty Images
McDonald said the 38-year-old faces a “lot of hard work” to return, but backed his ability to recover with Australia facing important series in the coming years. “It’s going to be a hard period to get back to where he was, but he still wants to do it, and that’s the main thing,” he said.
Australia are set to play two Tests against Bangladesh in August before travelling to South Africa for a three-Test series in September. Next summer brings a red ball showdown with New Zealand, before a tour to India early in 2027.
Murphy, 25, last played for Australia against Sri Lanka in February and has 22 wickets from seven Tests at an average of 28.
Although he was omitted from Cricket Australia’s list of contracted players in March, Murphy was selected ahead of a crop of accomplished first class spinners, including Corey Rocchiccioli, Mitchell Swepson and Matthew Kuhenmann. Kuhenmanndoes have a national contract and was in the Australian squad for the West Indies tour in July.
Murphy played for Australia A against the England Lions in Brisbane earlier this month, taking three wickets, and dismissed NSW’s top three batters – including Sam Konstas and Kurtis Patterson – in the second innings of the Sheffield Shield match at the MCG in October.
Steve Smith has been named captain in the absence of Cummins, signalling he has recovered from the ear complaint that forced him out of the third Test.
Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja have all been included as Australia continues to search for a settled middle order.
Australia: Steve Smith (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.
